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Thursday, 28 April 2016

A to Z Challenge - Y

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

Y is for YearbooksI have a few of my high school year books. Its fun to look back and see all the friends I grew up with. Many of which I keep in touch with today.I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when I found that McGill University uploaded the yearbooks for West Hill High School in Montreal West, the school my Dad and his sibling all went to. The year my uncle graduated is missing, but the other 3 are there.

In some school yearbooks they have a section at the back with an update on former students... who got engaged, married, etc. So check a few years ahead too. Also years before they graduated for clubs or sports they participated in.Don't forget there are other kinds of schools - music, agricultural, and other specialty schools. Check the links below.

9 comments:

Snap! We have the same topic today. I inherited 3 college yearbooks from my grandaunts, and I have LOVED going through them, mainly because we went to the same college. It's been fun seeing what my alma mater was like 45 years before I got there. Also I have used the yearbooks in researching some of their friends and their activities.

I am so envious of researchers in countries where the schools produce yearbooks, as there is no such tradition here. I have a vague memory of High Schools writing a school magazine once or twice a year, but I certainly never kept any and I have not come across any in my Archive searches. The main source of school activities seem to be the local press reports throughout the year. The local heritage in my village is compiling files of press cuttings that appear in the local regional papers - an asset for future researchers.

A few people have mentioned school magazines, I would have liked if we had that, I love to write! Most people only bought the yearbook from their last year, but I'm glad I got a couple in the middle as some friends moved away before graduation.

I have a few digital copies of the yearbooks from when my sister and I were in High school but also the one I most wanted never published the picture of the class I was in. It just humped on more discouragement to what I felt the last couple of years I stuck it out in what the other students called that class - yes bullying - the Dummy Class, the students that didn't fit into the only form there was for everyone back then... sad then but a fact of life that has taught me a great deal. :D

Yes, it was terrible the way there were "classes" of classes in school at that time. Much better when I was in grade 10 and they switched to progressive or whatever it was called. I was bullied in elementary but not in high school. I actually enjoyed those years.

Found a couple of my Dad's college magazines recently and was surprised that he had kept them. I hadn't thought he was a hoarder of such things. How wrong can you be? They made very interesting reading of all the activities of the Agricultural college he attended.